Friday, April 24, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
ARGH! Pictures!
So, I've been trying to upload pictures for the past two hours without success, so this entry is text only for now. Sorry...
There are two things that one should do when he or she goes to Africa. One is see Madonna. The other is go on a safari. Since we had done the former, this past weekend we decided to go after the latter.
Some members of our group are all about the planning, so they set everything up via a travel agent here, and we went on a trip to Zambia. In Malawi, Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays, so everyone gets off of work. This four-day weekend seemed like a logical choice for going on a safari, since Zambia isn't a short drive. Libby and I struggled with the idea a lot, though, debating whether to go to church or go on the safari. It was Easter, after all. In the end, we decided to go to church the weekend before Easter, and go on the safari Easter weekend (and just make sure that we could have our own little private Easter celebration).
We headed out on Thursday afternoon, taking a bus to Lilongwe. And there the adventure began. Our bus company is supposedly fairly reliable, but reliable isn't much fun, right? So, it's a good thing that we left about two hours late due to a "mechanical problem," right? And it's a good thing that we were delayed for an hour en route due to a down power line, right?
In the end, we arrived in Lilongwe at 11:30pm instead of 8:30. The taxis that our travel agent had arranged were not there. We went with some random taxi drivers to our hostel. The dinner that was supposed to be waiting for us at the hostel was nowhere to be found. (In fact, the hostel people claimed they had no idea what we were talking about.) Fortunately, though, our room was reserved, so we had a place to sleep.
Early the next morning, we awoke and got ready to be picked up at 7am. When our guides hadn't arrived by 7:15, we were worried (and hungry, since there was no breakfast available until 7:30 at our hostel). Finally, just before 7:30, they showed up (late enough for us to worry, too early to let us eat). And we were off to Zambia!
It was a long drive, but it was good to see some more of Malawi... and how Zambia is exactly the same (according to our guide). Most of Malawi's population (about 80%, I think), live in rural communities. You can't go more than a quarter mile on any main road without seeing tons of people walking and biking (usually carrying what looks like 100 pounds of firewood or charcoal or sugarcane or water or whatever).
Crossing the border into Zambia was fun. A classmate who shall remain nameless had purchased a fradulent yellow fever vaccination card, ethically rationalizing it that the vaccine is no longer officially required to enter Zambia, anyhow. But of course the customs people still demand it, regardless. The classmate produced her card, and the customs officer said, "This is no good." At first we all thought he spotted it as a fake, but he explained that it had only been 10 days since she/he had "received the shot," and the card is only good starting 11 days after he/she receives the shot. The classmate was freaking out, but our guide just asked for 1000 kwacha (about $6) and went to talk to the customs official. It was about this time that we noticed a huge poster on the door explaining how terrible it is to offer bribes, and they will not tolerate corruption at the immigration office. Out emerged our guide, Fletcher, who calmly said, "No problem." And it wasn't. The classmate made it in with no further delays.
We got to the camp in the afternoon. It was in the middle of nowhere. A large portion of the end of the drive was on dirt roads that only a vehicle like the Land Rovers we were riding in could handle. We were situated literally right on the banks of the Luangwa River, which borders the South Luangwa National Park that we would be visiting. We could look across the river at the beautiful undisturbed park. It was actually impressive and awesome how undisturbed the place we were staying was. There was a resort on either side of our camp, but other than that, no signs of civilization. In fact, upon arrival, we were warned what to do if a hippo or elephant wandered into our camp (don't freak out, move slowly away).
We explored the resorts, each with its own outdoor pool. One was on stilts so hippos couldn't get in. The other was egg shaped and had gradually sloped walls so that hippos could get out if they happened to wander in. We decided to go for a swim, and that was when we had our first real animal sighting.
It wasn't a hippo in the pool. It was when I went to the bathroom to change. There was a huge, awesome, and apparently hungry elephant hanging out right outside, eating the grass. He didn't seem to mind the people walking by, looking at him, taking his picture, though we didn't get too close.
That was the only real animal sighting that night, though. No hippoes or anything (though we definitely heard them all night long). We awoke early the next morning, eager to begin our safari. Our driver, Immanuel loaded us into an open-topped Land Rover, and we crossed the river, into the great unknown. We had a good start and saw some monkeys on our way out of our camp, and more as we crossed the bridge into the camp. We would drive around slowly on these dirt roads, and be surrounded by animals. The park is bounded on one side by the river and some cliff on the other side, so the animals are trapped naturally. For such a naturally confined area, though, there is a huge variety of animals. I guess it was a really LARGE confined area.
We saw tons and tons of different kinds of antelope. The most common were impala. We saw lots and lots of elephants. We saw lots of zebras. Some warthogs. Tons of different pretty birds. One crocodile. And a bunch of other animals I can't remember at the moment.
In that first drive, though, we didn't see hippos, lions, giraffes, buffalo, or leopards. We ended up seeing all of those except for the leopards (which are apparently quite elusive).
We had four game drives, in total. Two morning drives and two evening drives. It was on the first evening drive that we had some intense excitement. Once the sun set during our evening drives, a second guide in our car would shine a big flashlight and we would look for animals. It was an interesting concept, but it quickly got a little dull because we couldn't see as much, and the little that we could see was just the same as what we saw during the day... only darker.
But then, when we were relatively close to two other Land Rovers, we heard a loud, "POP! Whoooshhhhh!" We drove over to investigate, and our suspicions were correct: flat tire. So the two healthy vehicles got nice and close to the one with the flat, and the three drivers banded together to change the flat. After about 15 minutes, our guide who was holding the big flashlight (the "torch," as they call it) was making one of his routine searches of the surroundings, when his light suddenly stopped. About 30 yards away there was a lion walking slowly.
Our initial excitement and joy quickly turned to a bit of anxiety when we assessed the situation: a lion, 30 feet away, creeping toward us, being followed by the other 7 members of her pride, our car wedged in between stumps on the side of the road, our driver 10 feet from the wheel... interesting situation.
We tried taking pictures (which didn't turn out super well because of the darkness), and we got a bit scared. The lions ended up all walking RIGHT behind our vehicle, within about 8 feet. There were seven females and one male. All looked like they could easily crush us without a second thought. We thought they were wandering off, but we soon realized they were circling us a bit. What fun!
A few minutes later, though, all of the passengers of the Land Rover with the flat crammed into ours so that the drivers could get the tire switched out. They did that, and then the passengers returned to the vehicle and we got going without further incident. We actually looked for the lions after that, and they were just kind of chilling out a short distance away, so we headed home for the evening.
We had some animal sightings in our camp, too. Our camp was taken over by monkeys for awhile. There were probably about 30 or so of them. They let you get pretty close as long as you didn't look them in the eye.
Libby and I woke up before sunrise one day, and we saw a few hippos. We started to walk closer, but then they started walking toward us, and we retreated. Then ended up not coming any closer, and they climbed down the steep bank of the river to get into the water. They were impressively graceful, actually.
The next day we had another interesting experience: we met Robert. He's a warthog. Turns out someone bought him from Herrod's (which all you blog followers should remember), and raised him for several years before returning him to the wild. Now, whenever he sees a vehicle full of people around, he runs up to it and wants to be pet. So, we got to meet, and pet a warthog. He seemed to enjoy it. A lot. In fact, he seemed to be a bit aroused by the experience.
That evening we had another lion sighting. It was a different pride, this time with 9 lions. They had a run at a baby elephant, but the parents threatened the lions away. That was fun to see. We followed this pride because they seemed to be out hunting. Again, we got really freaking close. You know how when you go to the zoo, you get the urge to climb the fence and cross the moat to be with the animals? (Or is that just me?) Well, that's basically what we had done. Those lions were easily within pouncing distance. Eventually, though, as the moon rose, the lions settled down, unsuccessful in their hunt before it got light enough for their prey to see them coming, and we stopped following them.
On our way home, just outside our camp, we were still very excited about the lion sighting when suddenly a HUGE hippo ran out in front of our car, making Immanuel slam on the brakes. We stopped about a foot shy of him, even though we were only going about 5 or 10 mph. He was booking it, too.
Anyway, it was a really cool experience. It was fun seeing the animals in the park. It was fun staying in a place where animals were so close. It's hard to explain just how cool it was. But it was awesome. Come visit us and see pictures because this computer/Internet hates me.
There are two things that one should do when he or she goes to Africa. One is see Madonna. The other is go on a safari. Since we had done the former, this past weekend we decided to go after the latter.
Some members of our group are all about the planning, so they set everything up via a travel agent here, and we went on a trip to Zambia. In Malawi, Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays, so everyone gets off of work. This four-day weekend seemed like a logical choice for going on a safari, since Zambia isn't a short drive. Libby and I struggled with the idea a lot, though, debating whether to go to church or go on the safari. It was Easter, after all. In the end, we decided to go to church the weekend before Easter, and go on the safari Easter weekend (and just make sure that we could have our own little private Easter celebration).
We headed out on Thursday afternoon, taking a bus to Lilongwe. And there the adventure began. Our bus company is supposedly fairly reliable, but reliable isn't much fun, right? So, it's a good thing that we left about two hours late due to a "mechanical problem," right? And it's a good thing that we were delayed for an hour en route due to a down power line, right?
In the end, we arrived in Lilongwe at 11:30pm instead of 8:30. The taxis that our travel agent had arranged were not there. We went with some random taxi drivers to our hostel. The dinner that was supposed to be waiting for us at the hostel was nowhere to be found. (In fact, the hostel people claimed they had no idea what we were talking about.) Fortunately, though, our room was reserved, so we had a place to sleep.
Early the next morning, we awoke and got ready to be picked up at 7am. When our guides hadn't arrived by 7:15, we were worried (and hungry, since there was no breakfast available until 7:30 at our hostel). Finally, just before 7:30, they showed up (late enough for us to worry, too early to let us eat). And we were off to Zambia!
It was a long drive, but it was good to see some more of Malawi... and how Zambia is exactly the same (according to our guide). Most of Malawi's population (about 80%, I think), live in rural communities. You can't go more than a quarter mile on any main road without seeing tons of people walking and biking (usually carrying what looks like 100 pounds of firewood or charcoal or sugarcane or water or whatever).
Crossing the border into Zambia was fun. A classmate who shall remain nameless had purchased a fradulent yellow fever vaccination card, ethically rationalizing it that the vaccine is no longer officially required to enter Zambia, anyhow. But of course the customs people still demand it, regardless. The classmate produced her card, and the customs officer said, "This is no good." At first we all thought he spotted it as a fake, but he explained that it had only been 10 days since she/he had "received the shot," and the card is only good starting 11 days after he/she receives the shot. The classmate was freaking out, but our guide just asked for 1000 kwacha (about $6) and went to talk to the customs official. It was about this time that we noticed a huge poster on the door explaining how terrible it is to offer bribes, and they will not tolerate corruption at the immigration office. Out emerged our guide, Fletcher, who calmly said, "No problem." And it wasn't. The classmate made it in with no further delays.
We got to the camp in the afternoon. It was in the middle of nowhere. A large portion of the end of the drive was on dirt roads that only a vehicle like the Land Rovers we were riding in could handle. We were situated literally right on the banks of the Luangwa River, which borders the South Luangwa National Park that we would be visiting. We could look across the river at the beautiful undisturbed park. It was actually impressive and awesome how undisturbed the place we were staying was. There was a resort on either side of our camp, but other than that, no signs of civilization. In fact, upon arrival, we were warned what to do if a hippo or elephant wandered into our camp (don't freak out, move slowly away).
We explored the resorts, each with its own outdoor pool. One was on stilts so hippos couldn't get in. The other was egg shaped and had gradually sloped walls so that hippos could get out if they happened to wander in. We decided to go for a swim, and that was when we had our first real animal sighting.
It wasn't a hippo in the pool. It was when I went to the bathroom to change. There was a huge, awesome, and apparently hungry elephant hanging out right outside, eating the grass. He didn't seem to mind the people walking by, looking at him, taking his picture, though we didn't get too close.
That was the only real animal sighting that night, though. No hippoes or anything (though we definitely heard them all night long). We awoke early the next morning, eager to begin our safari. Our driver, Immanuel loaded us into an open-topped Land Rover, and we crossed the river, into the great unknown. We had a good start and saw some monkeys on our way out of our camp, and more as we crossed the bridge into the camp. We would drive around slowly on these dirt roads, and be surrounded by animals. The park is bounded on one side by the river and some cliff on the other side, so the animals are trapped naturally. For such a naturally confined area, though, there is a huge variety of animals. I guess it was a really LARGE confined area.
We saw tons and tons of different kinds of antelope. The most common were impala. We saw lots and lots of elephants. We saw lots of zebras. Some warthogs. Tons of different pretty birds. One crocodile. And a bunch of other animals I can't remember at the moment.
In that first drive, though, we didn't see hippos, lions, giraffes, buffalo, or leopards. We ended up seeing all of those except for the leopards (which are apparently quite elusive).
We had four game drives, in total. Two morning drives and two evening drives. It was on the first evening drive that we had some intense excitement. Once the sun set during our evening drives, a second guide in our car would shine a big flashlight and we would look for animals. It was an interesting concept, but it quickly got a little dull because we couldn't see as much, and the little that we could see was just the same as what we saw during the day... only darker.
But then, when we were relatively close to two other Land Rovers, we heard a loud, "POP! Whoooshhhhh!" We drove over to investigate, and our suspicions were correct: flat tire. So the two healthy vehicles got nice and close to the one with the flat, and the three drivers banded together to change the flat. After about 15 minutes, our guide who was holding the big flashlight (the "torch," as they call it) was making one of his routine searches of the surroundings, when his light suddenly stopped. About 30 yards away there was a lion walking slowly.
Our initial excitement and joy quickly turned to a bit of anxiety when we assessed the situation: a lion, 30 feet away, creeping toward us, being followed by the other 7 members of her pride, our car wedged in between stumps on the side of the road, our driver 10 feet from the wheel... interesting situation.
We tried taking pictures (which didn't turn out super well because of the darkness), and we got a bit scared. The lions ended up all walking RIGHT behind our vehicle, within about 8 feet. There were seven females and one male. All looked like they could easily crush us without a second thought. We thought they were wandering off, but we soon realized they were circling us a bit. What fun!
A few minutes later, though, all of the passengers of the Land Rover with the flat crammed into ours so that the drivers could get the tire switched out. They did that, and then the passengers returned to the vehicle and we got going without further incident. We actually looked for the lions after that, and they were just kind of chilling out a short distance away, so we headed home for the evening.
We had some animal sightings in our camp, too. Our camp was taken over by monkeys for awhile. There were probably about 30 or so of them. They let you get pretty close as long as you didn't look them in the eye.
Libby and I woke up before sunrise one day, and we saw a few hippos. We started to walk closer, but then they started walking toward us, and we retreated. Then ended up not coming any closer, and they climbed down the steep bank of the river to get into the water. They were impressively graceful, actually.
The next day we had another interesting experience: we met Robert. He's a warthog. Turns out someone bought him from Herrod's (which all you blog followers should remember), and raised him for several years before returning him to the wild. Now, whenever he sees a vehicle full of people around, he runs up to it and wants to be pet. So, we got to meet, and pet a warthog. He seemed to enjoy it. A lot. In fact, he seemed to be a bit aroused by the experience.
That evening we had another lion sighting. It was a different pride, this time with 9 lions. They had a run at a baby elephant, but the parents threatened the lions away. That was fun to see. We followed this pride because they seemed to be out hunting. Again, we got really freaking close. You know how when you go to the zoo, you get the urge to climb the fence and cross the moat to be with the animals? (Or is that just me?) Well, that's basically what we had done. Those lions were easily within pouncing distance. Eventually, though, as the moon rose, the lions settled down, unsuccessful in their hunt before it got light enough for their prey to see them coming, and we stopped following them.
On our way home, just outside our camp, we were still very excited about the lion sighting when suddenly a HUGE hippo ran out in front of our car, making Immanuel slam on the brakes. We stopped about a foot shy of him, even though we were only going about 5 or 10 mph. He was booking it, too.
Anyway, it was a really cool experience. It was fun seeing the animals in the park. It was fun staying in a place where animals were so close. It's hard to explain just how cool it was. But it was awesome. Come visit us and see pictures because this computer/Internet hates me.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Jonathan - Smells of Malawi
First of all, kudos to my brother for so effortlessly seeing through my clever little game. We did indeed see Michigan-native Madonna Louise Ciccone at the hospital when she paid a visit to the hospital where we work. She even said hello to us! (It was before she was denied the adoption, so she probably wasn't grumpy, yet.)
So, one of the things that has struck me about Malawi is the smells. I have been surprised at just how many times the sensation that sticks out for me isn't what I see, but rather what I smell. The first day at the hospital was the first time I was blown away by a smell. You see, they have an entire room on the male surgical ward dedicated to wounds that won't heal. I can't think of adjectives to adequately describe the experience... pungent? Rancid? Thick? Repulsive? Necrotic? Nauseating? Each word seems to get close to the experience, but not quite describe it fully. Granted, I was taken aback by seeing holes straight through legs and seeing people with no skin on their testicles and other lovely visual images I could give, but the smell was much more powerful.
Another smell that I have yet to get used to is people in general. Like Europe (I'm told), deodorant isn't commonly used here. It's hot. People smell. Everyone smells. It's not something terrible, but it's definitely not something I'm used to. Last week was the first time I had the honor of smelling a rotten egg. The nine of us in the house have a communal food supply. What I usually have for breakfast is a couple of eggs and a couple of pieces of toast. I don't know where the eggs come from or how old they are, but before last week, I hadn't had any problems. One day, though, when I had my pan with oil on the stove, nicely preheated, I gently tapped the egg on the side of the pan and then when I separated the shell, I had a moment of confusion as the brown soupy contents fell into the pan, and then... WHAMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!! Wow! The odor was a strong slap in the face, making me back away from the stove. I gagged, but thankfully the smell diffused throughout the kitchen and became less powerful. I decided I had had eggs many days in a row without a problem, so it was probably a one-time occurrence. So, I through that egg away, got a new pan all ready to go, and cracked another egg. You know what? The second egg was perfect. I was so happy. The third egg, though, which I cracked into the pan with the second egg: rotten. Argh!
Another smell, which I did not experience personally, but Libby described in excruciating detail, was that of cervical cancer. Apparently there is a gynecology ward where the patients are perhaps the most neglected in the hospital, only getting seen once a week by a doctor. This ward also has an outpatient clinic associated with it. It was there that Libby (and another student, Erin) encountered another striking smell. As soon as the patient walked in the door, Libby and Erin knew something was awry. They tried holding their breath at first to avoid it, but it was inescapable. They couldn't communicate well with the woman, but she handed them her little booklet outlining her medical history (a booklet which all Malawians have for their doctors to fill out... in English). It described a doctor's visit one month prior where she was treated for a sexually transmitted infection - no other disease was mentioned. So, when Libby and Erin did the exam, they were not prepared for what they saw. It was cervical cancer. But it wasn't just some little bump on the cervix that might have grown over the past month. It was a massive white hard tumor that took over her entire pelvis. There was also dead, rotting tissue, producing the terrible smell that permeated the entire ward. Not something that developed over a month. Not something that could have been missed if someone had done an exam at her pervious visit.
To end this post a little more pleasantly, though, I have two more smells to tell about. First is rain. I really like the smell of rain... especially at the end of winter, heralding the onset of spring. Granted, in Malawi we are in the transition from wet season to dry season, so it's sort of the opposite (the end of rain, rather than the beginning of rain that is occurring now in Michigan). But, it's sort of like spring for us, since we were in the Michigan winter for the past month and then we came here. It's only rained two or three times since we've been here, but it's fun to know that the same crisp, fresh aroma accompanies rain all over the world.
The last smell is food. As I sit here on the porch, I can smell another wonderful dinner being prepared. Terrie (the doctor who hosts us) has hired a Malawian gentleman named Simoni to cook (and clean and do laundry and do other random stuff), and he is a GOOD cook. He makes amazing pizza and lasagna that are nothing like pizza and lasagna in the States. The sauce is sweeter... there is less cheese... it's runnier. It's hard to pinpoint any one thing that makes them strikingly different. But they are. And they're good. He also makes some traditional Malawian dishes. Tonight, for example, I think, we're having Sobo (orange) chicken. He also makes Moussaka (which we learned the hard way is about 95% beef, and 5% other stuff), and Malawian fish (which I've forgotten the name of). Mmmmm... The food smells so good right now. I'm really hungry.
That means it's time to be done with this entry. We have many more adventures to write about, but I wanted to give sort of little snapshots into life here. Hopefully this non-chronological format has been entertaining. Perhaps the next entry will be about fulfilling our other African requirement...
So, one of the things that has struck me about Malawi is the smells. I have been surprised at just how many times the sensation that sticks out for me isn't what I see, but rather what I smell. The first day at the hospital was the first time I was blown away by a smell. You see, they have an entire room on the male surgical ward dedicated to wounds that won't heal. I can't think of adjectives to adequately describe the experience... pungent? Rancid? Thick? Repulsive? Necrotic? Nauseating? Each word seems to get close to the experience, but not quite describe it fully. Granted, I was taken aback by seeing holes straight through legs and seeing people with no skin on their testicles and other lovely visual images I could give, but the smell was much more powerful.
Another smell that I have yet to get used to is people in general. Like Europe (I'm told), deodorant isn't commonly used here. It's hot. People smell. Everyone smells. It's not something terrible, but it's definitely not something I'm used to. Last week was the first time I had the honor of smelling a rotten egg. The nine of us in the house have a communal food supply. What I usually have for breakfast is a couple of eggs and a couple of pieces of toast. I don't know where the eggs come from or how old they are, but before last week, I hadn't had any problems. One day, though, when I had my pan with oil on the stove, nicely preheated, I gently tapped the egg on the side of the pan and then when I separated the shell, I had a moment of confusion as the brown soupy contents fell into the pan, and then... WHAMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!! Wow! The odor was a strong slap in the face, making me back away from the stove. I gagged, but thankfully the smell diffused throughout the kitchen and became less powerful. I decided I had had eggs many days in a row without a problem, so it was probably a one-time occurrence. So, I through that egg away, got a new pan all ready to go, and cracked another egg. You know what? The second egg was perfect. I was so happy. The third egg, though, which I cracked into the pan with the second egg: rotten. Argh!
Another smell, which I did not experience personally, but Libby described in excruciating detail, was that of cervical cancer. Apparently there is a gynecology ward where the patients are perhaps the most neglected in the hospital, only getting seen once a week by a doctor. This ward also has an outpatient clinic associated with it. It was there that Libby (and another student, Erin) encountered another striking smell. As soon as the patient walked in the door, Libby and Erin knew something was awry. They tried holding their breath at first to avoid it, but it was inescapable. They couldn't communicate well with the woman, but she handed them her little booklet outlining her medical history (a booklet which all Malawians have for their doctors to fill out... in English). It described a doctor's visit one month prior where she was treated for a sexually transmitted infection - no other disease was mentioned. So, when Libby and Erin did the exam, they were not prepared for what they saw. It was cervical cancer. But it wasn't just some little bump on the cervix that might have grown over the past month. It was a massive white hard tumor that took over her entire pelvis. There was also dead, rotting tissue, producing the terrible smell that permeated the entire ward. Not something that developed over a month. Not something that could have been missed if someone had done an exam at her pervious visit.
To end this post a little more pleasantly, though, I have two more smells to tell about. First is rain. I really like the smell of rain... especially at the end of winter, heralding the onset of spring. Granted, in Malawi we are in the transition from wet season to dry season, so it's sort of the opposite (the end of rain, rather than the beginning of rain that is occurring now in Michigan). But, it's sort of like spring for us, since we were in the Michigan winter for the past month and then we came here. It's only rained two or three times since we've been here, but it's fun to know that the same crisp, fresh aroma accompanies rain all over the world.
The last smell is food. As I sit here on the porch, I can smell another wonderful dinner being prepared. Terrie (the doctor who hosts us) has hired a Malawian gentleman named Simoni to cook (and clean and do laundry and do other random stuff), and he is a GOOD cook. He makes amazing pizza and lasagna that are nothing like pizza and lasagna in the States. The sauce is sweeter... there is less cheese... it's runnier. It's hard to pinpoint any one thing that makes them strikingly different. But they are. And they're good. He also makes some traditional Malawian dishes. Tonight, for example, I think, we're having Sobo (orange) chicken. He also makes Moussaka (which we learned the hard way is about 95% beef, and 5% other stuff), and Malawian fish (which I've forgotten the name of). Mmmmm... The food smells so good right now. I'm really hungry.
That means it's time to be done with this entry. We have many more adventures to write about, but I wanted to give sort of little snapshots into life here. Hopefully this non-chronological format has been entertaining. Perhaps the next entry will be about fulfilling our other African requirement...
Monday, April 6, 2009
Fun Game!
Guess who is wearing the hat in this picture taken at the hospital where we work.
(Official picture upload time: 32 minutes. Started at 9:52am EST, finished at 10:24am)
PS: Happy Opening Day! Go Tigers!
For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Welcome to Malawi!
Well, what’s traveling without a little adventure, huh? Neil, Libby, and I arrived in Malawi to find that our luggage had not. The airport personnel claimed that it was because the aircraft we took from South Africa was too heavy. My personal theory is that we had a somewhat tight connection that our luggage simply didn’t make. Regardless, we asked at the baggage claim if our luggage would be there, and we were told definitely. When we were some of the only people still waiting at the carousel, one of the baggage people went in back and then came back with our bad news. He assured us, though, that our baggage would arrive the next day.
We exchanged some US dollars for Malawian kwacha at 155 kwacha per dollar. We had no idea if this was a good or bad exchange rate, so we only changed a little bit. Then, we were met at the airport by Linda.
You’re wondering who Linda is. We were, too. Sort of. Only, she was white and had a sign with our names on it, so we figured she was trustworthy. We had arranged to stay with missionaries from our church in East Lansing, Phil and Krista, who were working in Lilongwe. We thought one of them would be picking us up, but as it turns out, Linda, their coworker, had to drop off her husband at the airport anyway, so she was our ride.
She was very kind to have waited for us, even though we arrived about a half an hour late and then our luggage dilemma took even more time. She gave us a brief intro to the country on the way, and then dropped us off with Phil and Krista. They are extremely nice people, and wonderful hosts. They have a cute almost-one-year-old daughter, Cara. We dropped off our bags and they asked us what we wanted to do. We asked what they normally did on Monday afternoons, and their reply was music to our ears: ultimate frisbee.
Now who would’ve thought that that’s what we would be doing as soon as we got off the plane in Malawi? Had I taken the opportunity to guess, I may have said nap, take a walk, go to a market, hang out with Phil and Krista... any of a number of things, but ultimate was not even on the radar.
Since we only had our carry-ons, we didn’t really have any clothes suitable for the game, but fortunately, in a house of Frisbee players, there’s usually some extras. So, we walked about 10 minutes or so to a nearby park, where a pick-up game was already in progress. We played for probably about an hour and a half before we dropped with exhaustion.
We went back and made dinner with our hosts: curry! It was delicious. We debated for awhile whether to take the 7am or 11am bus the next day to Blantyre. We decided why get up early, when we wouldn’t make it to the hospital in time to work anyhow? So, we chose the 11am bus.
However, the next morning when Libby and Phil went to get us tickets, they informed us that the 11am bus wasn’t running that day. No explanation. Just the facts. So, we decided on a minibus, which run whenever they get full throughout the day.
We called Terrie Taylor, the physician coordinating our rotation, with our plans, and she begged us not to take such a “death trap” and to wait for the 4:30pm bus. We rejoiced at the opportunity to spend a day exploring Lilongwe, so we gladly accepted her proposal to wait.
Phil was wonderful and took us around by car to show us some of the city. The layout is very strange. The people who planned the city had lots of foresight... a little too much, perhaps. They planned for lots of growth, and thus set up their financial center and their government center and their residential centers all apart from one another. The problem is that they’re pretty darn far apart from each other, to the point that you can’t walk from one zone to another. Oops.
We saw their half-finished Parliament building. Taiwan was funding it to thank Malawi for being one of the few countries to recognize Taiwan’s independence. But then Malawi decided it could get along just as well if it allied with China. For some odd reason Taiwan didn’t like that decision and abruptly stopped its financial support. And for some equally odd reason, China didn’t want to pay Taiwan’s contractors to finish the construction project. So, now, Lilongwe has a perpetually half-finished Parliament Building.
However, there were definitely some very nice areas, too. There was a super fancy USAid building. The building that currently houses the government is really nice. The tallest building (13 stories) in the country is in Lilongwe. Some buildings, taken out of context, would seem perfectly at home in any major US city.
We got dropped off in one of the downtowns and set off by foot. We walked around a lot and had fun visiting some of the open-air markets. There were wood carvers on one corner who made absolutely beautiful stuff by hand, but their... persistence was a bit distressing, so we didn’t spend a lot of time around them. We went to a post office, so if you happen to be a cousin of mine reading this, in need of a get well card, it’ll be fun to see when it arrives.
We went to “Indian Town,” and had Indian food for lunch. DELICIOUS! It turns out that the Indians who settled in Malawi were such good business people that the Malawians couldn’t compete. The government got mad and decided they all had to relocate to this small area within Lilongwe. They did (resulting in many delicious restaurants and a pretty strong presence of Indian culture in a small area), but the Malawians didn’t really take advantage and take over any of the Indian businesses.
We went to a small American-style mall to wait until it was time to go. The azulu (white people) to Malawian ratio was extremely high there. Everything was about 30 times more expensive than in the open-air markets. The one perk, though, was that we found a place that offered five minutes of free wifi - just enough to email people to let them know we’d arrived safely.
That pretty much spent our time in Lilongwe, and then we headed to the bus station. It started pouring while we were waiting, so we were pleased to be inside. The ride itself was beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous landscape - all sorts of mountains/hills all over.
We arrived in Blantyre well after dark, met up with Terrie Taylor, and she gave us a ride to her home - our home for the next month. And there I will stop, since this has been a long entry.
We exchanged some US dollars for Malawian kwacha at 155 kwacha per dollar. We had no idea if this was a good or bad exchange rate, so we only changed a little bit. Then, we were met at the airport by Linda.
You’re wondering who Linda is. We were, too. Sort of. Only, she was white and had a sign with our names on it, so we figured she was trustworthy. We had arranged to stay with missionaries from our church in East Lansing, Phil and Krista, who were working in Lilongwe. We thought one of them would be picking us up, but as it turns out, Linda, their coworker, had to drop off her husband at the airport anyway, so she was our ride.
She was very kind to have waited for us, even though we arrived about a half an hour late and then our luggage dilemma took even more time. She gave us a brief intro to the country on the way, and then dropped us off with Phil and Krista. They are extremely nice people, and wonderful hosts. They have a cute almost-one-year-old daughter, Cara. We dropped off our bags and they asked us what we wanted to do. We asked what they normally did on Monday afternoons, and their reply was music to our ears: ultimate frisbee.
Now who would’ve thought that that’s what we would be doing as soon as we got off the plane in Malawi? Had I taken the opportunity to guess, I may have said nap, take a walk, go to a market, hang out with Phil and Krista... any of a number of things, but ultimate was not even on the radar.
Since we only had our carry-ons, we didn’t really have any clothes suitable for the game, but fortunately, in a house of Frisbee players, there’s usually some extras. So, we walked about 10 minutes or so to a nearby park, where a pick-up game was already in progress. We played for probably about an hour and a half before we dropped with exhaustion.
We went back and made dinner with our hosts: curry! It was delicious. We debated for awhile whether to take the 7am or 11am bus the next day to Blantyre. We decided why get up early, when we wouldn’t make it to the hospital in time to work anyhow? So, we chose the 11am bus.
However, the next morning when Libby and Phil went to get us tickets, they informed us that the 11am bus wasn’t running that day. No explanation. Just the facts. So, we decided on a minibus, which run whenever they get full throughout the day.
We called Terrie Taylor, the physician coordinating our rotation, with our plans, and she begged us not to take such a “death trap” and to wait for the 4:30pm bus. We rejoiced at the opportunity to spend a day exploring Lilongwe, so we gladly accepted her proposal to wait.
Phil was wonderful and took us around by car to show us some of the city. The layout is very strange. The people who planned the city had lots of foresight... a little too much, perhaps. They planned for lots of growth, and thus set up their financial center and their government center and their residential centers all apart from one another. The problem is that they’re pretty darn far apart from each other, to the point that you can’t walk from one zone to another. Oops.
We saw their half-finished Parliament building. Taiwan was funding it to thank Malawi for being one of the few countries to recognize Taiwan’s independence. But then Malawi decided it could get along just as well if it allied with China. For some odd reason Taiwan didn’t like that decision and abruptly stopped its financial support. And for some equally odd reason, China didn’t want to pay Taiwan’s contractors to finish the construction project. So, now, Lilongwe has a perpetually half-finished Parliament Building.
However, there were definitely some very nice areas, too. There was a super fancy USAid building. The building that currently houses the government is really nice. The tallest building (13 stories) in the country is in Lilongwe. Some buildings, taken out of context, would seem perfectly at home in any major US city.
We got dropped off in one of the downtowns and set off by foot. We walked around a lot and had fun visiting some of the open-air markets. There were wood carvers on one corner who made absolutely beautiful stuff by hand, but their... persistence was a bit distressing, so we didn’t spend a lot of time around them. We went to a post office, so if you happen to be a cousin of mine reading this, in need of a get well card, it’ll be fun to see when it arrives.
We went to “Indian Town,” and had Indian food for lunch. DELICIOUS! It turns out that the Indians who settled in Malawi were such good business people that the Malawians couldn’t compete. The government got mad and decided they all had to relocate to this small area within Lilongwe. They did (resulting in many delicious restaurants and a pretty strong presence of Indian culture in a small area), but the Malawians didn’t really take advantage and take over any of the Indian businesses.
We went to a small American-style mall to wait until it was time to go. The azulu (white people) to Malawian ratio was extremely high there. Everything was about 30 times more expensive than in the open-air markets. The one perk, though, was that we found a place that offered five minutes of free wifi - just enough to email people to let them know we’d arrived safely.
That pretty much spent our time in Lilongwe, and then we headed to the bus station. It started pouring while we were waiting, so we were pleased to be inside. The ride itself was beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous landscape - all sorts of mountains/hills all over.
We arrived in Blantyre well after dark, met up with Terrie Taylor, and she gave us a ride to her home - our home for the next month. And there I will stop, since this has been a long entry.
London Pictures!
Total uploading time for 4 pictures: a little over 1 hour. yay!
On top of the double-decker tour bus... listening to the recorded tour guide
The Tower Bridge
You should've seen how super I was when I came out.
So, I'm silly and even though I waited 10 minutes for this picture to upload, I didn't rotate it first. It's us and Big Ben, in case your neck doesn't bend quite far enough to tell.
On top of the double-decker tour bus... listening to the recorded tour guide
The Tower Bridge
You should've seen how super I was when I came out.
So, I'm silly and even though I waited 10 minutes for this picture to upload, I didn't rotate it first. It's us and Big Ben, in case your neck doesn't bend quite far enough to tell.Friday, April 3, 2009
Jonathan - Registering at the College of Medicine
Another update... this one is out-of-order, but I thought it would be a nice intro to Malawi. And it’s fresh in my mind since it’s about today. What do you think it takes to register at the University of Malawi College of Medicine (after you’ve already sent them some paperwork, they know you’re coming, and students just like you from MSU have been doing 4- or 6-week long rotations for the past ten years)? Well, it took more than we expected, that’s for sure.
We went to the College, told ahead of time that we’d have to pay our fees at the registrar’s office. We thought that was all we had to do. We got there, though, and the guards at the gate didn’t really know what the registrar was, but let us inside after signing in on their log of visitors. (We had to wear visitor nametags, too.) We asked the first security guard we saw inside the gates (there were lots of them all over) where the registrar’s office was, and I don’t think he understood what we wanted, so he gave his default English instructions which took us to the Reception Office.
The woman at the Reception Office told us that we didn’t really want to see the registrar - instead we wanted to go to the cashier’s office. She gave us directions there (just around the corner, in the same building), so we went. The cashier’s office wasn’t labeled or anything, but we went inside, and there was no one there. There was another door off to the side once we entered, so we went inside that one as well. There was a woman there who confirmed we were in the right place and invited us inside. It wasn’t until we were in the small office that I realized there was already a young man and woman inside, with a baby. They were very nice and offered us their seats but they didn’t leave. I don’t know who they were, but they stayed the whole time we were there.
We weren’t there long, though, as it turns out, because she asked us where our forms were, and our blank stares prompted her to direct us to the dean’s office to get checked in or something. She told us the building the office was in, but no more information. We made it to the building without difficulty, but none of the rooms were labeled, and we had to ask several people where to go before we found one who understood English and knew where to go.
Upon arriving at the Dean’s office, the secretary (I think that’s what she was) was trying to figure out who we were. She asked what electives we were doing. We told her Libby was doing OB/Gyn, and she found her name. But when she looked for my name among the surgery students, she couldn’t find it. Only when we mentioned that we were from MSU and she pulled out a different book did she find my name.
She gave us our forms and we filled them out (in duplicate), and then she suggested we sit and wait. After about 5 minutes or so the cashier appeared. She had come up to meet us there. I’m not exactly sure why we weren’t just told to return to her office. We paid our fees, but the cashier hadn’t brought the proper receipt book, so we all went back to her office anyways. Before going to the cashier’s office, though, the dean’s secretary gave us four envelopes: one for the head of OB/Gyn, one for the head of surgery, one for the IT dept, one for the librarian.
In her office, the cashier wrote up all of our receipts, and then we made our way to the IT department. The envelope’s contents were a mystery to us, but we were told that we would get internet access if we gave it to them. That wasn’t something we were amazingly concerned with, since we have internet at the house, but we figured we might as well. The only person in the IT department, though, had no idea what to do with us or our envelope. He told us the head of the department was giving a lecture and would be back at 5pm (it was currently 3:55). We asked what time the office closed, and he told us 5pm. So, we could either wait and make sure we catch him when he stops by before going home, or come back another day.
We decided to try running our other errands and then return to see if the IT person had shown up. So, Libby went to the library while I went back to the dean’s office to find out if whatever was enclosed in the envelope had to be delivered in person to the dept head, or if it could be dropped off. Turns out it had to be delivered in person, but it could also be given to someone named Benjamin. I went back to find out if the gentleman with whom we had spoken was Benjamin, but no such luck. He called Benjamin for me, though, but Benjamin didn’t answer his phone. Back to square one.
Libby, on the other hand, was trying to get us privileges checking out books. She handed the envelope to the librarian, and the librarian opened the envelope, inspected the contents, and laughed. It turns out that the letters inside simply said that we had paid our fees. The funny part, apparently, was that Libby was by herself but there was a letter for each of us. I know. It didn’t seem that funny to me, either.
But Libby was then directed to fill out a form and then go to a different desk in the library. She did that, and at the other desk, she received a couple more forms that we were to fill out and then get signed by the heads of our departments (surgery and OB/Gyn).
Another item on the agenda was trying to get access to the College of Medicine’s Sports Complex - a pretty modern place with a gymnasium complete with tennis court and volleyball court, an outdoor running track, a few squash courts, a weight room, and some treadmills and exercise bikes. It really is pretty nice. We were told by Terrie Taylor (the MSU physician who coordinated our trip) that previous students had gotten access by virtue of their tuition payment.
We were directed to the assistant registrar’s office to inquire about this perk. I went, still while Libby was at the library, and the gentleman there seemed very confused. “You want to go to Sports Complex? You want work out?” When I said yes, he seemed very excited. “Ok!” He then made a phone call and then promptly left the room for about 5 minutes. He returned, made another phone call, and then told me that we should go to the Sports Complex, and the manager there would get everything set up.
By this time Libby had arrived, so we were off to the Sports Complex. It was about a five-minute walk away, so not too bad. As we walked by the fence before the entrance, we saw a group of Malawian girls playing what we learned was net ball. It’s kind of like basketball because there’s a metal hoop you throw a ball through. There’s no backboard, though. And you’re not allowed to dribble or to move with the ball (kind of like Ultimate Frisbee). It seemed like you weren’t allowed to block shots, either... unless the girls were just being really nice to one another.
We entered the Sports Complex and asked for the manager. We were told that the manager wasn’t in, but we could speak with an assistant manager, and we were led inside. After a few minutes of waiting, we got to meet with the assistant manager. It took awhile for us to explain to him that we were paying tuition at the school, but he explained his dilemma: we weren’t on the school’s list of students because we were temporary, but he acknowledged us as students, especially when we showed him our receipts from tuition, and regular students have access for free.
He decided that we should pay 5000 kwacha (about $30) for the remaining three weeks that we’d be here. That’s a big discount from their normal rates, but there’s no way we would make use of the facilities enough to make it worthwhile, so we passed. He said maybe he could even, just for us, give us the rate of 1000 kwacha, and again we told him that we expected it to be free for us, especially since we’re paying almost as much as the Malawian students pay for an entire year, and we’re only around for a month. He called his supervisor and got the same 5000 kwacha recommendation and then he called the registrar and found out that none of our tuition goes to the Sports Complex, and at that point he firmly held to his opinion that we needed to pay.
We declined, so he decided we needed a tour before deciding. I was curious, so we went on the tour. They had nice facilities. The gymnasium, though, only had one tennis court, and it was in use, making me wonder how readily we could access it. Since tennis was about the only thing I was interested in, it didn’t seem worth it. So we thanked him and went on our way.
This entire process took over three hours. That’s apparently how long it takes to register at the University of Malawi College of Medicine. And reflecting on the experience, we didn’t get that much accomplished. Sure, we paid our fees, but we never met with the IT people, we still have more work to do to get library access if we want, and we failed miserably at getting access to the Sports Complex. It’s nice that all of these amenities are available, but Libby came up with a good analogy - it's kind of like how people used to register for college classes: all in one big gym or something, standing in random lines and hoping your class didn’t fill up before you got to the front. In other words, chaos.
We went to the College, told ahead of time that we’d have to pay our fees at the registrar’s office. We thought that was all we had to do. We got there, though, and the guards at the gate didn’t really know what the registrar was, but let us inside after signing in on their log of visitors. (We had to wear visitor nametags, too.) We asked the first security guard we saw inside the gates (there were lots of them all over) where the registrar’s office was, and I don’t think he understood what we wanted, so he gave his default English instructions which took us to the Reception Office.
The woman at the Reception Office told us that we didn’t really want to see the registrar - instead we wanted to go to the cashier’s office. She gave us directions there (just around the corner, in the same building), so we went. The cashier’s office wasn’t labeled or anything, but we went inside, and there was no one there. There was another door off to the side once we entered, so we went inside that one as well. There was a woman there who confirmed we were in the right place and invited us inside. It wasn’t until we were in the small office that I realized there was already a young man and woman inside, with a baby. They were very nice and offered us their seats but they didn’t leave. I don’t know who they were, but they stayed the whole time we were there.
We weren’t there long, though, as it turns out, because she asked us where our forms were, and our blank stares prompted her to direct us to the dean’s office to get checked in or something. She told us the building the office was in, but no more information. We made it to the building without difficulty, but none of the rooms were labeled, and we had to ask several people where to go before we found one who understood English and knew where to go.
Upon arriving at the Dean’s office, the secretary (I think that’s what she was) was trying to figure out who we were. She asked what electives we were doing. We told her Libby was doing OB/Gyn, and she found her name. But when she looked for my name among the surgery students, she couldn’t find it. Only when we mentioned that we were from MSU and she pulled out a different book did she find my name.
She gave us our forms and we filled them out (in duplicate), and then she suggested we sit and wait. After about 5 minutes or so the cashier appeared. She had come up to meet us there. I’m not exactly sure why we weren’t just told to return to her office. We paid our fees, but the cashier hadn’t brought the proper receipt book, so we all went back to her office anyways. Before going to the cashier’s office, though, the dean’s secretary gave us four envelopes: one for the head of OB/Gyn, one for the head of surgery, one for the IT dept, one for the librarian.
In her office, the cashier wrote up all of our receipts, and then we made our way to the IT department. The envelope’s contents were a mystery to us, but we were told that we would get internet access if we gave it to them. That wasn’t something we were amazingly concerned with, since we have internet at the house, but we figured we might as well. The only person in the IT department, though, had no idea what to do with us or our envelope. He told us the head of the department was giving a lecture and would be back at 5pm (it was currently 3:55). We asked what time the office closed, and he told us 5pm. So, we could either wait and make sure we catch him when he stops by before going home, or come back another day.
We decided to try running our other errands and then return to see if the IT person had shown up. So, Libby went to the library while I went back to the dean’s office to find out if whatever was enclosed in the envelope had to be delivered in person to the dept head, or if it could be dropped off. Turns out it had to be delivered in person, but it could also be given to someone named Benjamin. I went back to find out if the gentleman with whom we had spoken was Benjamin, but no such luck. He called Benjamin for me, though, but Benjamin didn’t answer his phone. Back to square one.
Libby, on the other hand, was trying to get us privileges checking out books. She handed the envelope to the librarian, and the librarian opened the envelope, inspected the contents, and laughed. It turns out that the letters inside simply said that we had paid our fees. The funny part, apparently, was that Libby was by herself but there was a letter for each of us. I know. It didn’t seem that funny to me, either.
But Libby was then directed to fill out a form and then go to a different desk in the library. She did that, and at the other desk, she received a couple more forms that we were to fill out and then get signed by the heads of our departments (surgery and OB/Gyn).
Another item on the agenda was trying to get access to the College of Medicine’s Sports Complex - a pretty modern place with a gymnasium complete with tennis court and volleyball court, an outdoor running track, a few squash courts, a weight room, and some treadmills and exercise bikes. It really is pretty nice. We were told by Terrie Taylor (the MSU physician who coordinated our trip) that previous students had gotten access by virtue of their tuition payment.
We were directed to the assistant registrar’s office to inquire about this perk. I went, still while Libby was at the library, and the gentleman there seemed very confused. “You want to go to Sports Complex? You want work out?” When I said yes, he seemed very excited. “Ok!” He then made a phone call and then promptly left the room for about 5 minutes. He returned, made another phone call, and then told me that we should go to the Sports Complex, and the manager there would get everything set up.
By this time Libby had arrived, so we were off to the Sports Complex. It was about a five-minute walk away, so not too bad. As we walked by the fence before the entrance, we saw a group of Malawian girls playing what we learned was net ball. It’s kind of like basketball because there’s a metal hoop you throw a ball through. There’s no backboard, though. And you’re not allowed to dribble or to move with the ball (kind of like Ultimate Frisbee). It seemed like you weren’t allowed to block shots, either... unless the girls were just being really nice to one another.
We entered the Sports Complex and asked for the manager. We were told that the manager wasn’t in, but we could speak with an assistant manager, and we were led inside. After a few minutes of waiting, we got to meet with the assistant manager. It took awhile for us to explain to him that we were paying tuition at the school, but he explained his dilemma: we weren’t on the school’s list of students because we were temporary, but he acknowledged us as students, especially when we showed him our receipts from tuition, and regular students have access for free.
He decided that we should pay 5000 kwacha (about $30) for the remaining three weeks that we’d be here. That’s a big discount from their normal rates, but there’s no way we would make use of the facilities enough to make it worthwhile, so we passed. He said maybe he could even, just for us, give us the rate of 1000 kwacha, and again we told him that we expected it to be free for us, especially since we’re paying almost as much as the Malawian students pay for an entire year, and we’re only around for a month. He called his supervisor and got the same 5000 kwacha recommendation and then he called the registrar and found out that none of our tuition goes to the Sports Complex, and at that point he firmly held to his opinion that we needed to pay.
We declined, so he decided we needed a tour before deciding. I was curious, so we went on the tour. They had nice facilities. The gymnasium, though, only had one tennis court, and it was in use, making me wonder how readily we could access it. Since tennis was about the only thing I was interested in, it didn’t seem worth it. So we thanked him and went on our way.
This entire process took over three hours. That’s apparently how long it takes to register at the University of Malawi College of Medicine. And reflecting on the experience, we didn’t get that much accomplished. Sure, we paid our fees, but we never met with the IT people, we still have more work to do to get library access if we want, and we failed miserably at getting access to the Sports Complex. It’s nice that all of these amenities are available, but Libby came up with a good analogy - it's kind of like how people used to register for college classes: all in one big gym or something, standing in random lines and hoping your class didn’t fill up before you got to the front. In other words, chaos.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Jonathan - Tea Time in England!
Sorry this blog is (and probably will perpetually be) behind. It turns out internet access is hard to come by here. Granted, we have wireless at the house where we’re staying. However, it’s slower than molasses. To load Gmail, for instance... the basic HTML version (not the fancy full-fledged version) has taken me 15 minutes to load just my inbox before. The slow connection combined with a minimally functional laptop is a deadly combo. And it turns out that of the eight of us in the group, Libby and I are the only ones to bring a computer, so sharing has limited our access...
Anyway, that being said, let’s start from the beginning. We flew out a week ago! It seems like ages ago! We left DTW on an overnight flight to London. It was super cool. My first trans-Atlantic flight - very exciting! They served food! Drinks plus snacks plus DINNER AND BREAKFAST! And not only that, but there were on-demand movies with the little screens in the seat in front of you! Super fancy! They even passed out free newspapers.
So, this was a dilemma, because we were supposed to be sleeping so that we would be well rested when we arrived in London. But who could sleep with such excitement happening? I watched one movie, though, ate dinner, and resigned myself to sleeping. I didn’t sleep amazingly well or long, and I think I woke Libby up more than she wanted, but we were awake enough when we arrived.
The three of us (Libby, me, and Neil) went through customs, not really realizing there was any other alternative, and next thing we knew, we were outside of the secure area. We went to check in for our next flight (which was leaving in fourteen hours), which required a ride on the underground to another terminal. By the time we got there, the small journey had taken about an hour... and after all that, you know what we found? A closed South African Airlines ticket counter. They didn’t open until 2pm, and it was only 9:30am.
We weren’t about to wait around for that, though, so we headed back to the underground, and made our way downtown. We got off near where a couple of tour bus lines ran, since we figured that would be a good way to see a lot in a relatively short period of time. As part of the tour, you could go see the changing of the guard at 10am, and we were going to do that, but apparently they don’t do the big ceremony when it rains... and it was raining.
We wandered to Trafalgar Square. Well, we went to what we thought was Trafalgar Square, but we later saw the REAL Trafalgar Square from the bus. After the fake square, we found the tour bus line and hopped on. It was pretty cool - double-decker open top bus, and we could see quite a bit from the roof. But it WAS open-topped. And as I mentioned, it WAS raining. Still a lot of fun, though.
We saw a lot. We got off the bus at Big Ben and wandered around there for a bit. We saw the London Eye (a huge Ferris Wheel with cars made out of glass that are big enough for people to stand up in. It moves really slowly and doesn’t stop. Apparently there are really good views from the top.
Also, right next door, there’s Westminster Abbey. It was really pretty... from the outside. It costs 12 pounds to go inside! Can you believe that? That was a lot of money, so we decided to pass. We hopped back on the bus and got to see some more of the buildings around the city.
We saw London Bridge, the Tower Bridge (the big fancy one that you see on movies and stuff), and the Tower of London. I didn’t really know much about the Tower, but Neil was a big fan (because he had been there before), so we stopped to check it out. You had to pay 14 pounds or something to get in (as a student)... again, London’s not super cheap. We decided that it would probably be worth it, but not on an empty stomach, so we wanted to eat first.
It was 11:30am, and I guess that’s insanely early for lunch. We went to a lot of restaurants before we found one that was open. It was a nice pub, and it had Fish ‘N Chips, so we were set. The food was delicious! I now understand why fish ‘n chips are such a British thing - they do it well.
We went back to the Tower. For those of you as uninformed as I was, it served as a prison, most famously for people who were to be executed by the English kings. We got a tour by one of the Yeomen. The Yeomen are these guys who served at least 22 years in the English armed forces, applied, and were accepted. Once accepted, they live on-site with their families. At 10pm every night, there’s a ceremony, and they lock themselves inside. This is a tradition that they’ve held every night for 700 years. According to our guide, it’s a great place to raise a teenage daughter.
The guide was really good. Very enthusiastic, telling us about the history, and particularly the gruesome details of executions. I can share more if you want, but for the sake of public sensitivity, I will hold off for now.
Anne Bolyn was the most famous person executed at the Tower. Royalty who were executed, though, unlike the lay public, were executed behind the walls of the Tower, rather than on top of the hill outside. Anne Bolyn was actually beheaded by a French swordsman rather than a British axe-wielding executioner. Just a bit of trivia for you.
We explored a couple of the buildings at the Tower, but we passed on the Crown Jewels (which are housed there) because there was a super-long line.
From there, we hopped back on the bus. We figured we’d have time for one more stop, in addition to our tour bus observations. We chose Herrod’s. Herrod’s is a very ritzy department store where the royal family either shops or used to shop (no one I talked to was really sure). The reason we chose that site was that I was told they had a produce department. And not just any produce department, but one that imported all sorts of fruits and veggies from all over the world. If I had any chance of guanabana in London, it was at Herrod’s.
On the way, we went by Buckingham Palace, but we didn’t get a good view. Apparently it’s against the law for commercial vehicles to drive in front of the Palace. We didn’t have time to get out, though. Guanabana was calling.
It was raining pretty hard, at this point, so we went downstairs on our bus. It was very crowded, too, so the only seats available were at the very front. This wouldn’t have been bad, because the view was decent. However, the bus driver was very, very, very friendly. He was the chattiest person we met in England. He was also completely oblivious to the fact that we were tourists, actually interested in the recorded tour guide on the PA and interested in seeing the sights. Instead, he turned down the volume of the recording and told us about taking a night off with his wife who was also a driver and asked us about real estate prices in Saginaw so that he could compare to London.
It was all part of the adventure, though. Also part of the adventure was that the bus route had been diverted for awhile because of some protest that was happening. Our bus happened to be the first one after the diversion was lifted. But that meant that they altered the route slightly to stay closer to the center of town - translation: it would only get within a 15 minute walk of Herrod’s.
We cut through Hyde Park (a really pretty Central Park-ish sort of place) to get there. The only good word to describe it is Palacial. It looked so fancy! There were guards at all the doors. They made us take off our backpacks and carry them, lest we might bump something. Throughout our time there, I only saw a few price tags. The first was a purse that was just sitting out on a counter somewhere. The price tag: 3000 pounds. I forget the conversion, but that’s something like $4,500. For a purse!
We went to the food section, and it was delightful. To spare you the suspense, though, no guanabana. It seemed to be about the only fruit they didn’t have. It was fun to see all the fun teas and fruits and chocolates, though. They even had chocolate Easter egss that were probably about 4 feet tall. Price tag: 600 pounds.
It was a fun last stop, but we had to get back to the airport. So, we hopped on the underground and headed back. We got there with plenty of time to spare, ate dinner in the airport (so that we wouldn’t feel obligated to stay awake on the plane and eat), and boarded. Uneventful! Yay! We started to get used to normal airline travel, again.
But I should stop writing now so that the computer can be shared. I will post about our intro to Africa soon...
Cheerio!
PS: the one lousy computer we have doesn’t have functional USB ports, so uploading pictures will be a rare occurrence.
Anyway, that being said, let’s start from the beginning. We flew out a week ago! It seems like ages ago! We left DTW on an overnight flight to London. It was super cool. My first trans-Atlantic flight - very exciting! They served food! Drinks plus snacks plus DINNER AND BREAKFAST! And not only that, but there were on-demand movies with the little screens in the seat in front of you! Super fancy! They even passed out free newspapers.
So, this was a dilemma, because we were supposed to be sleeping so that we would be well rested when we arrived in London. But who could sleep with such excitement happening? I watched one movie, though, ate dinner, and resigned myself to sleeping. I didn’t sleep amazingly well or long, and I think I woke Libby up more than she wanted, but we were awake enough when we arrived.
The three of us (Libby, me, and Neil) went through customs, not really realizing there was any other alternative, and next thing we knew, we were outside of the secure area. We went to check in for our next flight (which was leaving in fourteen hours), which required a ride on the underground to another terminal. By the time we got there, the small journey had taken about an hour... and after all that, you know what we found? A closed South African Airlines ticket counter. They didn’t open until 2pm, and it was only 9:30am.
We weren’t about to wait around for that, though, so we headed back to the underground, and made our way downtown. We got off near where a couple of tour bus lines ran, since we figured that would be a good way to see a lot in a relatively short period of time. As part of the tour, you could go see the changing of the guard at 10am, and we were going to do that, but apparently they don’t do the big ceremony when it rains... and it was raining.
We wandered to Trafalgar Square. Well, we went to what we thought was Trafalgar Square, but we later saw the REAL Trafalgar Square from the bus. After the fake square, we found the tour bus line and hopped on. It was pretty cool - double-decker open top bus, and we could see quite a bit from the roof. But it WAS open-topped. And as I mentioned, it WAS raining. Still a lot of fun, though.
We saw a lot. We got off the bus at Big Ben and wandered around there for a bit. We saw the London Eye (a huge Ferris Wheel with cars made out of glass that are big enough for people to stand up in. It moves really slowly and doesn’t stop. Apparently there are really good views from the top.
Also, right next door, there’s Westminster Abbey. It was really pretty... from the outside. It costs 12 pounds to go inside! Can you believe that? That was a lot of money, so we decided to pass. We hopped back on the bus and got to see some more of the buildings around the city.
We saw London Bridge, the Tower Bridge (the big fancy one that you see on movies and stuff), and the Tower of London. I didn’t really know much about the Tower, but Neil was a big fan (because he had been there before), so we stopped to check it out. You had to pay 14 pounds or something to get in (as a student)... again, London’s not super cheap. We decided that it would probably be worth it, but not on an empty stomach, so we wanted to eat first.
It was 11:30am, and I guess that’s insanely early for lunch. We went to a lot of restaurants before we found one that was open. It was a nice pub, and it had Fish ‘N Chips, so we were set. The food was delicious! I now understand why fish ‘n chips are such a British thing - they do it well.
We went back to the Tower. For those of you as uninformed as I was, it served as a prison, most famously for people who were to be executed by the English kings. We got a tour by one of the Yeomen. The Yeomen are these guys who served at least 22 years in the English armed forces, applied, and were accepted. Once accepted, they live on-site with their families. At 10pm every night, there’s a ceremony, and they lock themselves inside. This is a tradition that they’ve held every night for 700 years. According to our guide, it’s a great place to raise a teenage daughter.
The guide was really good. Very enthusiastic, telling us about the history, and particularly the gruesome details of executions. I can share more if you want, but for the sake of public sensitivity, I will hold off for now.
Anne Bolyn was the most famous person executed at the Tower. Royalty who were executed, though, unlike the lay public, were executed behind the walls of the Tower, rather than on top of the hill outside. Anne Bolyn was actually beheaded by a French swordsman rather than a British axe-wielding executioner. Just a bit of trivia for you.
We explored a couple of the buildings at the Tower, but we passed on the Crown Jewels (which are housed there) because there was a super-long line.
From there, we hopped back on the bus. We figured we’d have time for one more stop, in addition to our tour bus observations. We chose Herrod’s. Herrod’s is a very ritzy department store where the royal family either shops or used to shop (no one I talked to was really sure). The reason we chose that site was that I was told they had a produce department. And not just any produce department, but one that imported all sorts of fruits and veggies from all over the world. If I had any chance of guanabana in London, it was at Herrod’s.
On the way, we went by Buckingham Palace, but we didn’t get a good view. Apparently it’s against the law for commercial vehicles to drive in front of the Palace. We didn’t have time to get out, though. Guanabana was calling.
It was raining pretty hard, at this point, so we went downstairs on our bus. It was very crowded, too, so the only seats available were at the very front. This wouldn’t have been bad, because the view was decent. However, the bus driver was very, very, very friendly. He was the chattiest person we met in England. He was also completely oblivious to the fact that we were tourists, actually interested in the recorded tour guide on the PA and interested in seeing the sights. Instead, he turned down the volume of the recording and told us about taking a night off with his wife who was also a driver and asked us about real estate prices in Saginaw so that he could compare to London.
It was all part of the adventure, though. Also part of the adventure was that the bus route had been diverted for awhile because of some protest that was happening. Our bus happened to be the first one after the diversion was lifted. But that meant that they altered the route slightly to stay closer to the center of town - translation: it would only get within a 15 minute walk of Herrod’s.
We cut through Hyde Park (a really pretty Central Park-ish sort of place) to get there. The only good word to describe it is Palacial. It looked so fancy! There were guards at all the doors. They made us take off our backpacks and carry them, lest we might bump something. Throughout our time there, I only saw a few price tags. The first was a purse that was just sitting out on a counter somewhere. The price tag: 3000 pounds. I forget the conversion, but that’s something like $4,500. For a purse!
We went to the food section, and it was delightful. To spare you the suspense, though, no guanabana. It seemed to be about the only fruit they didn’t have. It was fun to see all the fun teas and fruits and chocolates, though. They even had chocolate Easter egss that were probably about 4 feet tall. Price tag: 600 pounds.
It was a fun last stop, but we had to get back to the airport. So, we hopped on the underground and headed back. We got there with plenty of time to spare, ate dinner in the airport (so that we wouldn’t feel obligated to stay awake on the plane and eat), and boarded. Uneventful! Yay! We started to get used to normal airline travel, again.
But I should stop writing now so that the computer can be shared. I will post about our intro to Africa soon...
Cheerio!
PS: the one lousy computer we have doesn’t have functional USB ports, so uploading pictures will be a rare occurrence.
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